All who know 'Petey' will agree: environmental honor fits

At its annual conference in March, the Environmental Education
Alliance of Georgia honored Petey Giroux with the group's Eugene
Odum Lifetime Achievement Award.

Anyone who knows Petey knows how committed she is to making the
world a better place. Her enthusiasm for people and the planet is
so great she has developed an enormous and diverse network of
fans.

Some people know her as the dedicated parent who created
entertaining and educational characters to teach kids about
environmental issues. (There is the garbage-strewn Waste Watcher,
endangered Canis rufus and freshwater songstress Momma Bass, all
starring Petey).

Others have learned how to bring Petey's creative teaching
strategies to their indoor and outdoor classrooms through the
almost countless workshops she has conducted across the state as
the first ever chair of environmental education for Georgia PTA and
then as the first coordinator of Georgia Project
WET.

Still others know Petey as a Twilight Twirler, strutting her
stuff and spinning her baton up and down parade-filled streets.
Then there are the African drummers with whom she has donned a
Dashiki and pounded away on percussion instruments. And her
graduate school friends (who are less than half her age -- sorry,
Petey) know her as a consummate storyteller who made their trip to
the Boundary Waters fun and exciting.

Regardless of how you know Petey, you know shes a determined
leader.

Wearing the "mommy shoes" as she calls them, she helped her own
children become vibrant, successful young women. Two of them are
now wearing "mommy shoes" of their own for Petey's four beautiful
grandchildren.

Petey transformed the work of PTAs across the state by making
environmental education a priority for them.

She worked hand-in-hand with the folks at the Chattahoochee
River National Recreation Area to establish a friends group and
create an environmental education training center for
adults.

Petey served as conference chair, president and advisory board
chair of the Environmental Education Alliance of Georgia,
contributing greatly to the successful organization the alliance is
today.

And let's not forget the mark she left on Project WET USA, the
Georgia Aquarium and the Georgia Conservancy (theyll never be the
same).

Anyone and everyone who knows Petey knows she is an unparalleled
friend to people, plants and animals (especially her own dogs and
cats, which she rescued).

Petey has earned the love and respect of all who know
her.

Deron Davis is director of waterSmart for the Georgia
Environmental Protection Division, and an unabashed Petey Giroux
fan.